


Baby One More Time...Again

by blackclovers



Series: Spells and Childish Nonsense [2]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/F, it's mevie but with umal bonding, mal gets spelled again, this time by uma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-17 18:01:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16100885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackclovers/pseuds/blackclovers
Summary: Maybe this is karma for all the wicked things she's done. Or maybe Mal just have bad luck and Uma is just a jerk.





	Baby One More Time...Again

Mal tries to be a good person, she swears to God herself that she does. Ever since she came to Auradon, the daughter of Maleficent has been trying her best and even got an A in her goodness class. Alright maybe her initial goodness was part of her plan to steal the wand, but she has since legitimately turned over a new leaf. It should be considered an accomplishment that despite all the rude princesses and princes who still constantly give her snarky comments, Mal hasn't turned them into toads. Mal doesn't curse every the other sentence or constantly breaks the rules anymore. She rarely steals or breaks things that don’t belong to her nowadays. Not to mention, she is such a wonderful girlfriend to Evie. Mal plans amazing dates for her blueberry princess that would make any other princess in Auradon jealous that their significant others can’t even compare. In conclusion, Mal does not deserve to be consistently dragged into these messy predicaments.

Maybe she was just born under an unlucky star.

Or maybe Uma is just a jerk who loves messing with Mal even though they're supposedly friends now in Auradon Prep. Whatever hostility they had for one another was left behind in the Isle of the Lost. Or at least it should have been, but it seems old habits die hard.

It was just another regular day at the always happy-go-lucky Auradon prep. All the students and faculty were busy with classes and educating; everyone except two certain villain kids. Mal and Uma were hanging out because they both had this period free while their significant others, Evie and Harry were busy in their advance Chemistry and advance Calculus classes. For someone who could barely count back in their Island, Harry developed a strange love for math once he started his classes, the same way Evie had developed a huge love for the sciences. Anyways, back to troublesome duo of the day. Mal and Uma were having their not-so-friendly banter as usual that anyone would have thought would result in a fistfight, but for them it was just a form of communication.

One moment they were arm wrestling and the next moment Mal is sitting on the floor and no longer 16 years old. Deja Vu.

There on the ground was a now smaller and less threatening version of the daughter of Maleficent. The child on the ground looked up at Uma, who felt no remorse for her prank unlike a  _certain_  Auradon student who had spelled Mal with a similar hex a few weeks ago. It seems Uma found her little prank very hilarious because she was cackling loudly while she fished out her phone from her pocket to take pictures of the clueless purple-haired child.

A few days after their last fiasco, Mal threatened to roast all her friends to a crisp, except Evie of course, if they did not delete the videos and pictures of Mal in her child-form thanks to Jane's spell. Evie was given a stern talking to from her girlfriend, but that did not stop the bluenette from saving pictures of her adorable girlfriend as a child. Meanwhile Uma managed to hide some pictures that Lonnie and Evie had sent her in a secret folder on her laptop. Even though she already had pictures, Uma now had a chance to get all new pictures of the green-eyed dragon child again and nothing would make her happier than new material to embarrass her best frenemy.

The daughter of Ursula finally stopped her hysterical laughter and carefully picked up the small child in her arms. Although nothing brings more joy to Uma than messing with Mal, the pirate wasn't the devil and she didn't want the child sitting on the floor in clothes that no longer fit her tiny body. Uma held the child closely and tightly to avoid having all the clothes just come off the toddler. Mal, now 4 years old and with no recollection of the last time she was put in that same exact situation, clung onto Uma with her tiny hands because she was afraid of falling.

Mal was staring at Uma warily, since she no longer knows who Uma is and Mal only seems to naturally trust Evie even when she has no memories whatsoever. The older girl gave Mal one of her rare smiles and that seemed to help Mal relax and the toddler soon started smiling back, happily showing her dimples. Mal pinched Uma’s cheek and Uma did the same to the child, which made Mal giggle more before snuggling against Uma’s shoulder, nuzzling her little head against Uma’s neck.

"I'll see if I can turn you back later. If not, Fairy Godmother will handle it. I'll probably get it trouble, but oh well." Uma shrugged her shoulders and poked Mal's chubby cheek, which made the child in her arms squeal loudly.

"Trouble is bad." Mal tells Uma with a cute frown and crosses her fingers together to form an X to emphasize her disapproval. 

Uma found it strangely adorable how much this version of Mal cared about following the rules considering the teenage version of Mal used to break every single rule possible back on the island. In fact, as lawless as the Isle was, Mal probably invented some new rules on the island through her wickedness back then. It pains Uma to admit this, but she used to look up to Mal back on the Isle and that's part of why their rivalry for turf started.

The child was still frowning cutely, and Uma grinned as the best bad idea came to her mind. Since she's arrived at Auradon, the pirate captain rarely got to do anything fun. Okay maybe Uma thinks P.E is fun because it's the one class where she's allowed to get physical and be praised for it, which meant she uses it to beat up Chad Charming. Uma's probably going to get a bad grade on her remedial goodness class on her next report card for what she is about to do, but this a chance in a lifetime. When life gives you lemons, throw them at prince and princesses. Plus, it's not like Ursula will see that report card. Uma bitterly doubts that her mother even cares about how she's doing in Auradon. Oh well, Uma always told herself that there was no point in being upset over things she had no control over.

"Mal, sweetie we're going to have some fun today. Just the two of us" said Uma with a smirk and poked Mal’s tiny nose.

Poor sweet little Mal innocently stared at the older girl, not realizing how much trouble she will be in for today.

-

Meanwhile on the other side of the school, one villain kid was diligently taking notes in her advanced chemistry class, whereas everyone else was questioning why they even took this class to begin with. It's no secret that Evie was a studious person, after all she is a straight A student and the top of her class. The brown eyed beauty was ambitious enough to even sign up for all advanced classes, something Mal thought was both nerdy and hot. But the whole chemistry class, even the teacher, wishes Evie would ask less questions and just let them end on time for once. The daughter of the Evil Queen was very close to becoming that student who reminds the teacher to collect their homework from the night before. If Evie did become that pain the ass student, chances are no one would dare to say anything unless they wanted to deal with Mal's wrath.

Towards the last 10 minutes of this torturous class, Evie could not help but feel something was very off in her gut. It was as if her girlfriend senses were tingling and she could just tell that Mal had gotten into some kind of shenanigans yet again. Poor Evie rubbed her forehead to ease the headache that was already creeping up on her because she knows she will have to fix whatever is happening.

Who knows? Maybe she was just overthinking and Mal is not doing something stupid. She prays to all the deities that she can think of that she was just overthinking and Mal is fine. The fact that Mal has not texted her doesn’t help calm Evie’s nerves because Mal usually sends Evie stupid texts throughout the school day to avoid paying attention in all her classes, except for art. There are only two possibilities as to why Mal has not texted Evie: one she is actually paying attention to her classes for once or two, she did something dumb and is trying to fix it before Evie finds out and scolds her. As much as Evie wants to believe it’s the former, she knows damn well it is most likely the latter. Sometimes Evie swears she’s Mal babysitter before she is Mal’s girlfriend. It's a wonder how Evie's entire head isn't full of gray hairs thanks to her girlfriend. Not like Evie wouldn't rock gray hair because she so would.

But oh man is she in for a surprise.

The bell finally rings to indicate it was the end of the class and Evie quickly packed up her textbooks and laptop and hastily leaves the room, which surprised everyone because usually Evie is the last one to leave the room because she felt the need to provide feedback to the teacher. As she is walking down the hall, Evie sends a text to Mal ask for her whereabouts.

To: Mal 

_Hey babe, where are you? Is everything okay? You’re awfully quiet today?_

Her phone quickly vibrates, and Evie sees a quick response from Mal.

From: Mal 

_Hey Evie, everything is going well. Don’t worry._

Okay now Evie  _knows_  something is going on because when they’re alone, Mal calls her E or Princess. And she’d never tell anyone, but Mal also loves sending cringey emojis and selfies. It’s a side that only Evie gets the privilege to witness. Which begs the question, who took her girlfriend’s phone and texted her just now?

To: Mal 

_Okay I know this is not M. Who are you?_

_read at 2:17pm_

Evie was livid that she was left on read by whoever was behind the phone. Others in the hall saw the way Evie was glaring at her phone and nervously avoided her wrath because Evie may be the sweetest of the villain kids, but she will not hesitate to cut someone if she had to. And it would seem Evie had a pretty good assumption about who it was using Mal’s phone.

 _There is only one person who would have the audacity to take M’s phone._ Evie thought and sighed.

“Uma”

If something involved both Mal and Uma, Evie knows that she will be in for a long day. The young designer sighs and starts looking for her girlfriend and friend throughout the school. Mal will be getting an earful and poor Evie probably will end the day with gray hairs.

-

Back to Uma and the now toddler version of Mal, they were having a nice meal in the cafeteria. Not one person dared to question where the child came from, not even the staff because they were all terrified of Uma and her gang. The young villain made some fish and chips for the toddler and used magic to change the outfit Mal had worn earlier to now fit her. Uma did decide to add some of her signature shade of blue to Mal’s purple clothes, so they would match to a certain extent.

“Uma say aaahh!!" Mal orders Uma as she holds a fry with her tiny hand, squishing it and making a mushy mess on her hand. Uma graciously accepts the messy offer and slowly chews what remained of the fry as Mal proceeds to finish the rest of her meal messily. Most of the food ended up on either the table or on Mal’s clothes. Once they were finished eating, Uma cleaned Mal up using a simple spell that she uses to ensure her room stays clean. She later brought the toddler to the empty tourney field. They were the only ones at the field because there was no practice today and Uma had a ridiculously terrible idea.

“Mal, look at me.” Uma ordered the child and the little girl complied. The older villain kid held a lighter and Mal watched as Uma showed her the small flame.

“Isn’t it cool?” asked Uma and Mal shook her head.

“Fire is bad. Fire hurts Mal if Mal touches.” the child explains to Uma as if Uma didn’t already know that one should not be playing with fire, especially not with a child.

“I mean yeah, you’re not wrong. But remember, kiddo, fire can be warm, and it helps people too. It provides light and cooks food.”

“Rweally?” Mal asks, still not completely sure if she should play with fire.

“Would I lie to you, kiddo?” Uma pouted to fake hurt that Mal wasn’t completely believing her. The toddler thought quietly to herself before shaking her head like a little puppy.

“No! Mal believes Uma!” Mal says with a cute smile and dimples on full display.

“Awesome, kiddo! Now you’re not going to play with this lighter to make fire.”

“I’m not?”

“Nope. You’re going to make fire come out of your hands. Using _magic_.” Uma tells Mal and puts emphasis on the last word.

“Magic?” The little girl repeats to be sure that she heard it correctly.

Uma nodded and showed Mal a simple spell which allowed her to liquify her hand. Like a kid in a candy store, Mal watched in awe as Uma’s magic manifested. Uma reverted her hand back to its natural state and then knelt down on her knees until she was eye to eye with the tiny version of her friend. She gently stroked Mal’s purple hair and smiled to encourage her, “you can use magic too, kiddo”. Although Uma planned this because she was bored and thought it would be very entertaining to wreak havoc in Auradon with Mal like they used to on the Isle, she did have an ulterior motive. Uma wants Mal to embrace her magic side again.

Ever since Mal became a student of Auradon Prep, she was no longer the same Mal that Uma remembered back on the Island. The once infamous villain kid didn’t rule Auradon with an iron fist; she did still instill fear in much of the student body, but that’s not saying much since Auradon kids run for their lives when they see a cockroach. Uma remembers rolling her eyes so far back that she almost saw her own brain the first time she witnessed Auradon students crying because of an insect. The villain kids had to get rid of the roach for those sheltered princes and princesses because it caused a huge commotion in the history of Auradon class, which is filled with propaganda against the Isle residents. Back on the Isle, you had to throw hands with the roaches because they were something out of a bad science fiction horror movie.

Anyways as stated earlier, Uma’s ulterior motive for this who prank was to show Mal that their magic is amazing and should be celebrated, not hidden.

It’s great that Mal turned over a new leaf, but she should not have to change everything about herself to be accepted. Magic is a huge part of who she is, just as it is for Uma and Uma would be damned if she let a school tell her that she can’t be who she is. For the past few weeks, Uma has been trying to convince Mal to embrace her powers again, even as far as to suggest another monster battle between her octopus form and Mal’s dragon form. To Uma's dismay, Mal would always decline, arguing that it’s against the rules here. Uma could see that’s not what Mal truly wants.

In her own twisted way, Uma did genuinely care about her friend's wellbeing. Also, if she were to kick Mal’s ass, she wants Mal at full power because fighting with a handicap just isn't fun.

“I have magic?” Mal happily asks while staring at her small hands.

“You do. And you’re a dragon too. It’s all you and you should embrace it.”

“What is em-em-embrace?” the child innocently asks her older friend.

“It means you should be proud and happy that you have it. We’re special Mal. Not everyone has magic. Don’t let anyone make you feel bad or sad about it.” Uma encourages the child and gently pats her head. The purple-haired child listens and nods, completely trusting her older friend.

Seeing that Mal was ready, Uma began coaching Mal on how she should utilize her powers. She tells Mal to close her eyes and take deep breathes. The child listens to the instructions as Uma continues to walk her through her own powers. “Now, just imagine fire in your hands. Remember to breathe and relax”.

Mal does as she’s told and slowly opens her green eyes when she feels a warmth in the palms of both her hands.

“Wow Uma! Fire!" Mal smiles as balls of flames sat on her hands and glowed brightly like a lamp. 

“That’s awesome, kiddo. Now you see those signs with red circles over there? I want you to throw the fireballs at them.” Uma instructs and points to the target practices that tourney players occasionally use. This time Mal is not sure if she should listen.

“But won’t Mal get in trouble?”

“You won’t kiddo. Don’t worry. If you miss, I’ll put the fire out.”

Feeling more assured that Uma would help her, Mal nods and throws the fireballs at the target practice and successfully sets most of them on fire. Staying true to her promise, Uma put out the fireballs that missed and burned the grass instead with her water spells. She also kept a mental note to put out the fire on the target practices later, but it’s not like it’s harming anyone currently. They continued playing with fire until they heard a voice call them from afar.

“Hey Uma!”

The pirate captain turned her head over she shoulders and saw Lonnie walking over to them. At least it was Lonnie and not Evie, Uma thought to herself. Out of all the Auradon kids, Lonnie was the one who she had somewhat respect for. The young Asian student was basically the only student in all of Auradon Prep, not counting those who grew up in the Isle, who could hold her own against Uma in sword fighting and in Uma’s book, that warrants respect. Uma sighed while Mal was seated between Uma’s legs and continued playing with her fireballs. As unwilling as Mal was at first to play with fire, the purple-haired child soon grew an appreciation for her pyrokinesis and begged Uma to teach her more, so Uma had taught her some transformation spells and telekinesis. The daughter of Mulan makes her way to Uma and stops in her place when she notices the little purple-haired child on Uma’s lap. It takes only a few seconds before it clicks in the Auradonian’s mind and she gasps loudly, which made Mal cover her ears from the noise.

“Oh my gosh! Is that why Evie can’t find Mal?!” Lonnie asks even though it was pretty self-explanatory since the evidence was right in front of her.

“No duh” Uma replied dully.

“Did Jane do this again?” Lonnie carefully asked.

“No, this time it was me. Mal, say hi to Lonnie.” Uma tells Mal and strokes her head.

The toddler turns to Lonnie and happily waves. “What’s up, Loser!! Look at what Mal can do!” She tells Lonnie and proudly shows her the fireballs in her hands. Lonnie did not fail to notice the nickname that Mal used and stared at Uma with disbelief. There was no doubt that Uma was the one who taught Mal to say that.

“Evie is going to freak out once she sees this” Lonnie laughs, not taking the nickname to heart and Uma shrugs.

“Which is why I haven’t responded her any of her calls or texts.” Uma smirks and shows Mal’s silent phone that was filled with notifications and voicemails from Evie, Ben, Jay and Carlos, all of whom were searching for Mal. The pirate captain winks at Lonnie, who laughs even more in response and finds this very amusing. The only time Mal got a chance to see her phone today was when Evie called for like the 10th time and Mal reached for the phone before Uma did. Once Mal saw Evie’s picture appear on her phone, she was quickly smitten and went on and on about how pretty she thought Evie was. Uma had jokingly rolled her eyes at how Mal was still so whipped for the bluenette even without any real memories of her. Uma had convinced Mal that Evie was a princess here at Auradon Prep. Aside from that, Evie has not managed to find the two of them since Uma first texted her about half an hour ago.

“Now what? Are you gonna snitch on me to Evie?” Uma asks Lonnie.

Lonnie shrugs as if she’s unsure before sitting across from Uma, who still had Mal seated between her legs. The Chinese student smiles while she’s looking at Mal and takes out her phone to take some new pictures of the child. She let out a few “awws” at Mal’s facial expressions. This time she will be sure to not let Mal delete them.

“Hey Mal” Lonnie tries to get the attention of the toddler.

“Yes?” Mal replies and looks up at the taller girl.

“You wanna play knights and use this sword?” Lonnie asks the little girl and Uma’s jaw almost drops. She unknowingly found a new partner in crime and she was quite impressed. Lonnie truly deserves her place as one of the few Auradonians that Uma could say she likes.

“Play knights?” Mal pondered cutely.

“You know, like the knights who protect princesses in stories!”

“Princesses like Evie?!” Mal excitedly asks and gets up on her two tiny little feet. Uma chuckles while Lonnie finds it very endearing how much Mal loves Evie regardless of her memories.

“Yeah, princesses like Evie. So, you wanna play?”

Mal nods enthusiastically while Lonnie takes out two of her swords from her bag. She hands one to Uma and the two show Mal how to properly sword fight. The purple-haired child patiently watches and studies their moves. Once Uma and Lonnie finished their demonstration, Uma handed her sword to Mal and the toddler was struggling to even hold it because of the weight, but she manages to mimic some of the moves that she saw earlier. Although she was clearly not as polished as either of the teenage girls because of her lack of training, she was still doing rather well. Lonnie records the entire routine on video while Uma watches to make sure Mal would not hurt herself. They are once again interrupted when suddenly a loud and angry scream is heard throughout the field.

“UMA!” a voice shouts.

 _There’s Mal’s blueberry princess_. Uma smiles and braces herself for the storm that is coming. She knows she is about to get an earful from the blueberry princess for not only spelling the girl’s girlfriend, but for teaching her all these bad things. Likewise, Lonnie was aware that she too is about to get in trouble, so she quickly ends the video and puts her cellphone away. And poor, innocent Mal was still waving the large sword around, not realizing that she is about to get in trouble too.

“Uma! What did you do to my girlfriend?!” Evie screams as she storms over to the trio. The bluenette was so infuriated that her normally warm and welcoming brown orbs were filled with fury and Lonnie felt a chill down her spine.

“Shhhh Evie. Not so loud, you’ll scare the baby” Uma tells her fellow VK.

“Baby?” Evie replies, still frustrated that Uma had sent her on a wild goose chase for the past hour.

Uma smirks and points to the purple-haired child, who was staring at Evie with her big green eyes and looks of pure adoration.

“Oh my g- no, you didn’t. Uma you did not just spell my girlfriend! Tell me you did not spell my girlfriend!”

“It’s a little prank don’t worry. At least we know after last time that we can definitely change her back.”

“That’s not the point! This isn’t funny! And why is she holding a sword! Also, Lonnie you knew and didn’t tell me?!” Evie shouts, but she’s about to have a heart attack as she quickly takes the sword away from Mal and carries the little girl in her arms to check for any injuries.

“It’s alright Evie, we monitored her the whole time to make sure she’d be safe.” Lonnie informs the bluenette as if that makes it all better.

“Yeah. She only almost cut her fingers off like twice or three times and each time we intervened it.” Uma adds.

“She what?!!” Evie screams.

“Uma that did not help” Lonnie shakes her head.

“Evie!” Mal gets the attention of the older girl, not really able to read the mood. “Look what Mal can do!” The child easily summons fire to her hands and throws it at the targets, proud to show Evie how powerful she is. However, Evie did not share the same sentiment because the field was burning. This time her fireball was significantly more powerful and soon a portion of the field was engulfed in flames. Uma quickly sprang into action to put out the flames before they got too out of hand.

“Uma, did you teach Mal to play with fire and use magic?! That’s dangerous and against the rules!” Evie carefully puts Mal back on the floor as she got ready to argue with her fellow VK, but first she and Lonnie had to help put out the flames that were threatening to burn the entire field. Mal watched in horror at the mess she had caused and runs away as fast as her tiny little legs could take her. Tears were building up in the toddler’s eyes as she ran, and all she could think about was how she almost hurt Evie just now and how mad Evie must be at her.

 _Mal is a bad girl._ Mal thought over and over as she runs out the field without the teenagers knowing.

At the tourney field, the trio were still putting out the flames.

“You know Mal can get in so much trouble if she’s caught right? And what were you thinking letting her do something so dangerous? You too Lonnie! I expected better from you!” Evie shouts as she pours some water on the flames while Uma had chanted a powerful water spell. Once the spell successfully stopped the flame, they all stopped to regain their breaths.

“Look Evie, I’m sorry. I just wanted Mal to embrace her magic again. It’s part of who she is.” says Uma.

“I know it is Uma, but it’s against the rules here. I don’t want Mal getting in trouble. She already goes through enough crap here. Maleficent is the most hated villain of all time here. Please understand where I’m coming from.” Evie sympathetically tells her fellow VK. Both of them want the best for Mal, but they don’t see eye to eye on how things should be. Don’t be mistaken, Evie loves Mal in her entirety. She’s always admired Mal’s natural magical abilities and if she could have it her way, she’d want Mal to always be herself to her fullest. Mal’s magic is amazing and something that should be celebrated, but most of Auradon does not agree, not even Fairy Godmother. Evie personally loves it when Mal used to use magic because it was always to help and protect, even if Mal didn’t think so.

But rules are rules, regardless of how stupid they may be. When she gave up her magic mirror, Evie felt it was like letting go a part of herself, even though she barely had magic. So, she can’t even imagine how much harder it must be for Mal, who’s entire existence is magic.

“We can change that. So many of us have some sort of magic. Mal, me, Jordan, Freddie, Jane and even you. It’s part of who we are. Why should we be forced to change just because other people don’t have our abilities?”

“Uma, it’s not that simple” sighs Evie.

“Uh guys-“ Lonnie tries to get their attention.

“Auradon can learn to accept our natural abilities just like they’ve learned to accept children from the Isle.”

“I’m not sure if I’d say we’re exactly accepted here” Evie mumbles.

“Guys-“ Lonnie tried again.

“And we can change that.” Uma says.

“We can try, but this is not the way. If Fairy Godmother sees we burned the field, she would definitely find a way to be even stricter with the magic ban. I don’t know how, but she will find a way.”

“GUYS!” Lonnie screams.

“What?!” Uma shouts back.

“Where’s Mal?” Lonnie nervously asks and all three of them look around the field. The child was nowhere in sight.

Evie was the first to act because she quickly sprints while shouting Mal’s name, hoping to find the child. Lonnie and Uma followed shortly after.

“Mal!” All three of them yelled.

-

Mal wasn’t sure how she ended up in the library without anyone stopping her, but she did. She was just walking aimlessly around the school while crying until she stopped in front of the school’s well-funded library. She finds a quiet corner to sit and that’s when Jane and Audrey spot her.

“Oh my god. Jane did you turn her into a child again? That has to be Mal right?” Audrey whispers to her friend and points to the small child.

“No, it wasn’t me! Can you guys let it go! I screwed up once!”

“Actually you did take your mom’s wand and broke the barrier during the coronation.” Audrey reminds her friend

“Alright twice! But yes, that child is definitely Mal.” Jane harshly whispers back and the two watch as Mal picks up a random book with words well above her current vocabulary level. The two of them see Mal struggling to read and decide that now would be the proper time to intervene.

“Hey sweetie” Audrey and Jane smile as they greet Mal.

Mal looks at the two teenagers with her puffy eyes that were red from her sobbing earlier. The two older girls could feel their hearts breaking at the sight of the child. Even Audrey felt compelled to comfort the child, despite the child being Maleficent’s daughter.

“What’s wrong Mal?” Audrey asks the little girl as she sits to her right and Jane sits to her left.

The toddler shakes her head, not wanting to share details with the two strangers about why she was sad. Not wanting to push her into talking, Jane looks at the book in Mal’s hand and offers to read to the child, who politely hands the book to Jane. Jane proceeds to read the story, which was a fairytale about a princess trapped in a castle by a dragon and the knight in shining armor who will come save her. Mal sure knows how to pick books, or Auradon really needs more variety. While Mal was busy being engrossed by Jane’s storytelling, Audrey took her took out her phone to text Evie because she had a feeling the bluenette was probably losing her mind searching for Mal.

To: Evie

_Hey Evie. I don’t know what is going on, but Jane and I found Mal in the library. We’re keeping her occupied with a book._

From: Evie

_Omg thank you! I’m on my way!_

Audrey turned her attention back to Mal and Jane and noticed the story did not seem to relax the child, but rather did the complete opposite.

“Jane!” Mal cried out.

“Yes, child?” Jane responded, mentally cringing at how she had adopted her mom’s go to nickname for students.

“Why is the knight fighting a dragon?” Mal asked.

“Because the dragon has captured the princess and locked her in the castle. The knight will come and save the princess from the dragon.” Jane explained, not noticing the distress that was building inside Mal. The little girl shyly fiddled with her fingers and bit her lip before carefully asking, “are all dragons bad?”

“That’s just how they are in these stories. Why do you ask?.” Jane replied, and Audrey could tell what was going through Mal’s imaginative little mind.

“So…dragons hurt princesses?” Mal asked.

Audrey gently slapped Jane’s shoulder to get the latter’s attention. Jane watched as Audrey shook her head, silently ordering her to not answer the question. But it seems Mal had already come to the conclusion on her on. She remembers the anger in Evie’s eyes earlier and how that transitioned to fear when she saw the fire. It’s true, dragons scare and hurt princesses. Princesses like Evie.

“Mal?” Jane and Audrey both called the child, who was dangerously quiet.

“Mal is a bad girl” mumbles Mal and the two Auradonians witnessed a flash of purple before she turned into a small dragon. Disregarding the proper library etiquette, Jane and Audrey screamed and tried to get Mal to remain calm, but the dragon was too nervous and stressed to listen. Mal spotted a window and crashed through it, leaving glass all over the floor and stunned students, who were in disbelief from what they just witnessed. Jane and Audrey quickly called Evie’s cell phone number, only to be greeted by her ringtone a few feet away. They turned around and saw an uncharacteristically sweaty and disheveled Evie, who was trying to catch her breath after running all the way here. Uma and Lonnie were right behind her, and both of them were also trying to get some air despite their athletic abilities.

“Where’s Mal?!” Evie asks in between pants and wiped some sweat from her forehead.

Audrey slowly pointed to the broken window.

-

Young Mal doesn’t know how long she has been flying or even where she is anymore because of the high altitude and clouds. All she knew was she needed to keep Evie safe from her. She stayed in up the bright and clear skies until her flapping wings finally grew tired and the child eventually had to return to the ground or else she would crash. Once she was back on the ground, the purple dragon looked around and saw nothing but trees. Any other child her age would have been scared that they were lost and alone, but Mal felt this was where she belonged. Alone and away from humans because she would not be able to harm anyone ever again.

The little dragon, which looked more like an oversized purple lizard, yawned and rested on the grass, taking in all the nature and peace and quiet. Her heightened senses allowed her the abilities to hear and smell from much farther away, so she’d know if something dangerous was approaching. The dragon toddler was peacefully napping until she heard the shuffling of wild animals from the bushes and their footsteps were getting closer. Mal, now returned to her human form, sat up on her two legs and saw some of the wildlife from the forest staring at her.

One little deer walks up to Mal and sniffs the child before nuzzling its soft and furry face against the child’s. Mal started giggling from the tickling sensation of the fur and carefully pet the deer’s head to avoid harming it. Soon, the other animals came closer to Mal until she was surrounded by all kinds of creatures like she was in the jungle book. A few of the animals licked Mal’s soft face, which made Mal laugh even more and she hugged her newfound woodland friends. One gorilla lifts up Mal and places her on its back so Mal could get a piggyback ride. The entire forest follows Mal from behind, all wanting to protect the little girl.

-

Everyone watched as Evie paced back and forth while biting her beautifully manicured nails. None of them could blame Evie for reacting like this because it’s been 3 hours, and not one person has seen Mal. The girls had even recruited Ben, Harry, Carlos, Chad, Gil and Jay to look throughout the school, but they all came up empty. Currently they are all gathered in Fairy Godmother’s office. Auradon’s head mistress was furious that something like this has happened yet again but she will dish punishment later because finding Mal’s whereabouts was the top priority right now. And they better find her quick because they’re running out of time. In less than 2 hours, the afternoon will yawn into evening, and none of them know how much ground they can cover in the dark.

No one was more aggravated than Evie, who was close to bursting into tears or destroying something out of frustration. Or maybe both. Her friends and headmistress watched from a safe distance, not wanting to trigger anything in Evie to cause her to lose the last remaining percentage of cool that she had.

“Evie please try to calm down.” Ben tells his friend and quickly regrets it when Evie angrily glares at him.

“How do you expect me to  _calm down_  when my girlfriend has not only turned into a child  _again_ but has disappeared without a trace?! I wish I had my magic mirror right now!” Evie screams in frustration.

“Relax yerself blueberry. I’m sure ye lil girlfriend is more than capable of protectin’ herself” Harry says as if it was nothing serious.

“Harry, I don’t know if Uma told you, but she’s 4 years old right now!”

“We’re kids of the Isle. The minute we were out of our mums’ wombs we had to fight for ourselves. Ye don’t recall? This is what they call natural selection. I learnt it in class today.” Harry joked to lighten the mood, but no one appreciated the joke. Evie especially was not a fan of the joke and had to be held back by Jay.

“Harry, if you’re not going to be serious, please don’t add any commentary. It’s not helping.” Uma tells Harry. For the first time today, Uma finally felt guilty. Her harmless prank turned out to be a disaster and if something really did happen to Mal, it would probably stay on her conscience for the rest of her life. 

“Geez. Was just tryin’ to relax ye lasses.” The son of Hook mumbled.

Fairy Godmother sat in her seat, quietly thinking about what to do until it finally clicked in her head.

“I got it! I can do a location spell. Now it will require a lot of magic, so I’m going to need your help Uma. I’m afraid that I'm no longer in my prime.” The headmistress says and looks at Uma.

“So, we’re gonna solve a problem caused by magic using more magic?” Audrey asks with disbelief. 

“It’s our only hope, Audrey. Uma, please listen carefully and recite this chant with me.” Fairy Godmother explains and Uma nods, ready to offer any help that she can. Evie nervously watches as the two of them recite a chant and slowly a fog forms until there’s a clear image of Mal.

“There she is!” Evie shouts and feels a sigh of relief seeing Mal was unscathed.

“Okay but, where is she?” questions Audrey.

“Guys, I think that’s the forest” Jay states.

Everyone runs out of the room and makes their way towards the forest.

They arrive at the forest in 20 minutes on two Auradon limos and Evie was the first one to enter the forest. Everyone behind her followed closely to ensure that the bluenette would not get lost too because they cannot afford to search for both Mal and Evie. The auradon students spread out and search; Uma with Harry and Gil, Ben with Audrey and Chad, Lonnie with Jane, and Evie with Jay, Carlos and Fairy Godmother.

“Evie, don’t push yourself. Mal wouldn’t want you to get hurt” Jay tells Evie.

“I know, but I’m so worried about her” Evie sighs.

“We are too, but you shouldn’t push yourself too much. We’ll find her. I promise.” Carlos replies, and Evie gives him a weak smile.

Evie continues searching through the bushes but stops when she receives a text from Audrey.

From: Audrey

_We found Mal! I’ve sent you the location!_

“Guys! Fairy Godmother! Audrey and her group found Mal!” Evie calls out to her friends and headmistress and shows her the text message. The four of them meet up with the others and they’re all flabbergasted when they see the scene in front of them.

There on the floor was Mal peacefully napping on the belly of a gorilla while all types of animals gathered around her protectively.

“Uh… since when did we have lions and gorillas in this forest?” Audrey asks.

“Wait a minute, is that a giant dragon?” Ben adds.

“So… I’m the only one who notices the unicorn?!” Lonnies screams.

“All ye lasses talkin’ bout lions, gorillas, dragons and unicorns. Do you all not see that large kraken by the lake? Woo it’s like the size of the loch ness.” Harry states and everyone’s eyes widen when they look at the direction that the pirate was pointing to. Indeed, there on the edge of the water sat a large squid.

“Hey Uma-” Harry smiled.

“Harry Hook, if you call that thing my cousin, I will feed you to it” Uma threatened, and Harry dropped his smile in the blink of an eye.

“Fairy Godmother, there is no way this is the actual ecosystem of this forest, right?” Jay asks the only adult present and Fairy Godmother shook her head.

“I think Mal might have spelled some of the wildlife around here by accident.” Fairy Godmother suggests.

While everyone was busy discussing the strange animals that you would not see in a regular zoo, Evie carefully made her way to Mal, who was still napping peacefully. She stopped when she was greeted by one of the lions, which stared her down as a sign that it was protecting Mal.

“Please, I’m just here for that child. I’m not going to hurt her. I swear on my life” Evie begged and reasoned with the animal. The lion hears Evie’s desperate cries. As if it understood Evie’s words, the lion moved aside to allow Evie to proceed. The blue-haired princess sighs in relief and murmurs a low ‘thank you’. Witnessing that the lion trusted Evie, the rest of the animals allowed Evie to pass and carry Mal into her arms. Once Mal was safe in Evie’s arms, the napping child snuggled closer to Evie subconsciously and the older girl smiled in return before giving Mal a kiss on her forehead. They remained like that for a few more minutes; Uma and Fairy Godmother used those minutes to change the ecosystem back to its natural state. As cool as the dragons, unicorns and kraken were, Fairy Godmother would rather not have these strange invasive species and soon those animals became lizards, zebras and a squid.

Evie soothingly rubs Mal’s back and slowly the child wakes up and opens her eyes. Mal looks around, still dazed from just waking up and sees all the big kids. When she realizes that she’s in Evie arms, the purple haired toddler starts freaking out. There was a flash of hurt on Evie’s face, but she quickly hides it, knowing that something must be bothering Mal for her to react the way she did. She knows Mal would never act like this just to hurt her.

“Sweetie, what’s wrong?” Evie quietly asks the terrified child, who was still trying to get away.

“Mal is bad! Mal is a dragon! Dragons hurt princesses!” Mal cries, struggling to get out of Evie’s arms, but Evie was stronger.

“What makes you think that?” Evie whispers to Mal.

“Jane and Audrey read Mal a story! Dragons are mean to princesses! Mal don’t wanna hurt Evie or make Evie hate Mal! Mal wanna protect Evie!” Mal explains with tears in her eyes before full on sobbing.

Everyone stares at Audrey and Jane with looks of disapproval, the former quickly points to her friend to let them know that she did not participate in that storytelling. Jane looks down, feeling guilty that her attempt to cheer Mal up had made things worse.

“Mal, that’s not true at all. None of us hate you. I don’t hate you” Evie tells Mal and the little girl hugs Evie tightly. The older girl could feel her shoulders getting wet from the child’s tears and Evie starts crying with her.

“Evie doesn’t hate Mal?”

“Of course not, honey. Evie loves Mal.”

“Mal loves Evie too”

Fairy Godmother gives the two a few more minutes with each other before walking next to Evie. “Child, I think we should turn Mal back now.”

“And how will we do that?” Evie asks and wipes the tears on the child’s face.

“I know this sounds bad, but it will take too long to get the museum to give the wand back to me. I suggest maybe going into the enchanted lake with Mal. I’m not saying throw her in there, I’m saying carry her in your arms and go into the lake with her.”

Evie looks at Mal and then back at her teacher before nodding.

“Oh, sure but last time I suggested that, you guys called it dumb!” Chad whines.

“Because you told us to just throw her in there alone, even though she cannot swim.” Lonnie replies.

Evie holds Mal tighter and starts walking towards the lake. The child begins to scream again, begging Evie to not throw her in the water.

“Mal is sorry she’s bad! Please don’t throw Mal away!” Mal begs.

“No, no, no sweetie I’m not throwing you away. I’m going into the water with you. I promise I won’t let go. Do you trust me?”

Mal’s cries subside and she nods, hugging Evie even tighter.

Evie takes a deep breath and submerges both herself and Mal into the water. Everyone watches and a few seconds later, two figures appear onto the surface of the water and everyone cheers seeing Mal back to her normal age. Both of them were gasping for air and soaked from head to toe.

Jay helps Mal out of the water while Carlos helps Evie.

“Welcome back, Mal.” Uma shyly greets Mal and scratches the back of her neck as a sign that she’s nervous. The now green-eyed teenager glares at Uma, furious that the girl had turned her into a child.

“Uma, what the fuc-“

“Language!” Fairy Godmother shouts.

“What in the world was that for? Why did you do that?!”

“Listen I’m sorry! But I just wanted you to enjoy magic again!”

Mal is taken aback by Uma’s statement and her anger begins to dissipate.

“What do you mean by that?” Mal warily asks.

“I wanted you to see that our magic is an amazing thing. We shouldn’t have to change who we are to be accepted.”

“That’s not true” mumbles Mal and she looks away, angry at herself that Uma saw through her act. It’s true that lately she has been trying to suppress her magic for the sake of others. She had even ask some chemistry students to develop a medication that could suppress her magic as much as possible, without Evie knowing of course. Feeling a hand on her shoulder, Mal turns to her right and sees her girlfriend offering her a sad smile.

“Uma’s right, Mal. I’m really sorry too. I’m your girlfriend and I should be more supportive of your magic. Instead I was the one who suggested you give your spell book away to the museum and I was always reminding you of the rules. I’m sorry if it made you think I don’t like your magic. In fact, I love your magic. I have always loved your magic because your magic and you cannot be separated. I was too preoccupied with the thought that you would get in trouble if you continued to utilize it and that’s why I was so strict about it. I never meant to make you feel like you had to completely suppress it for my sake. Like Uma said, it’s an amazing thing and you shouldn’t have to change yourself. I love you just the way you are. I know it’s against the rules, but you’ve never used your magic to endanger others. Instead you’ve always protected us. Even when you were spelled into a kid, Uma and Lonnie told me you wanted to use magic to protect me. You might not think you’re good, but you are such a good person and I’m always going to be proud of you.”

Mal looked down to hide her blush. She’d rather be submerged under the enchanted lake than be caught blushing at Evie’s words. Although she can’t deny that she’s so happy to hear those words out of her girlfriend’s mouth.

“It’s not your fault E. I was the one who decided that I had to give up magic because I thought that’s what I needed to do. You never told me to” reasoned Mal.

“Because I was strict with you.”

The shorter girl shakes her head and kisses her girlfriend on the cheek. “It’s not your fault. I know you’ve never been ashamed of me or my magic.”

Evie wipes her own tears and finally does what she’s missed doing all day, kiss Mal. Feeling Evie’s soft lips against hers, Mal happily kisses her girlfriend back with just as much passion. The two didn’t need words to let each other know that everything will be okay from here on.

“Ahem…” Fairy Godmother awkwardly pokes Mal’s shoulder.

The two of them stop their lip locking and Mal shyly looks at her teacher. “Yes Ma’am?”

“I just wanted you to know that I am sorry too. The truth is the whole magic ban has never been a problem because we’ve never had students as powerful as you or Uma. Even my daughter didn’t inherit half of my magical abilities. Therefore, we never thought a magic ban would be controversial. The handful of students that we had that could use magic before you guys came did not possess magical abilities of your caliber. But clearly with all these new and more powerful students born with bloodlines of witches, spellcasters, faeries, gods, and whatever else is out there, new lines will have to be drawn. Magic is a huge part of your very existences and it should not be shamed. I’m not saying we will allow you to have magic to help you with studies, but maybe we should offer more leeway for those who possess exceptional abilities, such as offering you courses or clubs to help control it.” The older woman suggests.

“Thank you, Fairy Godmother. It sounds like a great compromise” both Mal and Uma say in response and their headmistress is more than happy to negotiate with them and Ben when they return to the school grounds.

Evie embraces Mal from behind and rests her pretty little head on her shorter girlfriend’s shoulder. She’s so happy to hear that Mal will a new outlet for her magic. Mal happily kisses her again to show that she appreciates her so much.

“I love you. I’m sorry for the mess that was today.” Mal apologizes.

“I love you too. And it’s fine. I’m used to babysitting you. But please stop turning into a child. Don’t get me wrong, the baby version of you is adorable and all, but I’m exhausted.”

“Deal. And just between us, my magic is awesome and all, but you’re the best thing that has ever happened to me. I’m forever grateful that you have never once given up on me even though I am the walking definition of a disaster.”

“But you’re my disaster.”

“Always”

Everyone heads back to the limos, not wanting to stay in the forest this late. It’s now evening, and they’d rather not spend the night here despite how beautiful the night sky was. Mal is walking with Evie at her side while Uma is walking in front of them. She is using a fire spell to create just enough light to guide her friends and teacher through the darkness.

“Hey Uma.” Mal calls her friend.

“Hm?”

“Just wanted to say, thanks” Mal shyly mumbled, and Uma smirked.

“You’re welcome, loser”

Mal chuckles, glad that even after what happened today, her childish and playful banter with Uma would still be a thing between the two of them. Evie pouts, a bit jealous that her girlfriend has this different bond with Uma. It was as if Mal could read Evie’s thoughts, she squeezed the blue-haired girl’s hand. Evie turned her attention to Mal and the shorter girl whispers into Evie’s ears.

“Hey, maybe I’m just overthinking, but the bond between you and I cannot be compared to any other bond that I have with anyone else. I love you and only you.”

Evie smiles and whispers back, “I love you too”.

Once they’re all in the limos, they all head back to Auradon. Everyone was ready for some proper rest after running around the school and forest all day. Evie could not wait to finally take a much-needed shower. When they’re in front of the dorms, they tell each other good night and Fairy Godmother warns them to not stay out too late before heading back to her office for paperwork. The teenagers are about to disperse and go their own ways, but Mal grabs their attention one last time.

“Oh yeah one last thing. Anyone who took pictures or videos of me as a kid today, you have 48 hours to delete them or the first thing I will do when this magic ban is lifted is barbeque you. I’m not kidding. Evie is the only exception.” She sternly tells her friends and crosses her arms.

 _Damn double standards._ Everyone thought except Evie and Mal.

Evie giggles, happy to see that her girlfriend is back to the way she is and should be.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Whew this is the longest thing I've ever written. Thank you for reading!


End file.
